After Trump's Win, Sadness, Fear and Shock in a Brooklyn Park

CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN — About 25 people gathered in a rough circle inside Carroll Park on Wednesday evening. Some had brought their children. In the yellow light of the park's lamps, they quietly huddled and talked in groups of twos and threes, fingers wrapped around flickering candles.

Aubrey, who said she had lived in Carroll Gardens for 15 years, was there with her nine year old son. She was feeling "extreme sadness," she said, and wanted to be with others. She also wanted to show her boy that people would "keep fighting" for what they believed in.

She said she told her son that "we live in a democracy, and part of living in a democracy is everyone gets a say."

Even so, she told him that this hadn't been "your typical campaign," explaining that "there were people who really felt disenfranchised, and they were fed up."

She had met some of them in the neighborhood, she said, people in their 40s like her, but whose families had lived in Carroll Gardens for generations. They called themselves "the leftovers," she explained, working-class members of "old Italian families who are feeling left out," who "were sick of the rich getting richer" and believed that president-elect Donald Trump "is going to give us our jobs back." People who are "pissed because they feel like a bunch of yuppies have come in and taken over the neighborhood." People who, expanding the scope of their focus, said their families had immigrated to the country legally, and who were upset at those who hadn't. She knew their feelings, she said, because she had cordial relationships with them, and still did.

Another 17-year Carroll Gardens resident said she "felt the need to connect with my community" after an election that left her "feeling disconnected from your fellow citizens."

"A different value system" had won out, she said, pausing and picking her words carefully, eager not to over-simplify what she believed were the "larger issues" at play — including the nation's failure to adequately discuss issues of "globalization."

"I'm worried about the systems that are so fragile," she said, like health care, education, and democratic participation, systems she felt were now endangered by the incoming president.

She had felt upset by election results before, but "not like this," she said. In part, that was because something besides policy was at play, too: race and gender.

"The gloves came off, and it because explicit," she said.

Julian Boxenbaum said he had lived in the neighborhood for 10 years. He had seen the vigil while passing by the park, and came by to be with those "feeling similar to me."

"I haven't felt this kind of shock and dismay and terror since, frankly, 9-11," he said.

"We don't always achieve our aspirations as a country, but we have a system that others aspire to," he continued, values that had now been "savaged."

"The process of this election has already been damaging," he said. "We traded our values of openness and democracy and fairness for misogyny, bigotry, ignorance, isolationism, and demagoguery."

Was there common ground to be found with Trump voters?

"We all want our families to be prosperous and healthy, and we all want america to be great," Aubrey said. "It's just how we get there" that was dividing people.

"There are universals," the second resident agreed. "Everybody wants for their family to be cared for."

"There's always common ground," Boxenbaum said. "I think we on the left are equally blind to what the concerns are of the other." Unfortunately, he continued, the social media systems that provide so much of today's information are "set up to do the opposite of cross-pollination," instead pulling people into like-minded camps. Boxenbaum said he had tried to cut through the algorithmic filters, reaching out to others to see how they felt, but hadn't been successful.

Perhaps the most blunt words came from Karen Thomas, a U.S. citizen born in Grenada who lives in Crown Heights but works in Carroll Gardens.

"I feel numb today, lost" Thomas said. Had she felt that way after other elections? "No. We were disappointed with Bush, but this is something totally different."

Trump had shown a "level of disrespect for everyone" she said, and "speaks ill against women. I can't believe that people bought into it."

Thomas said his voters were primarily motivated by "fear" powered by "a lot of racism." That, at least, "is no longer hidden."

The nation's sexism was also on display, she said, adding, "How many other countries have had a female president?" But this nation had yet to join them.

Thomas said she was "shocked" by Tuesday's result, explaining that, "The level of hate is much greater than we all thought." Even so, "if we sat down and talked and really listened, we are all dealing with the same issues. But fear is blinding a lot of people."

She said that part of her wanted to return to Grenada for the next four years so she could wait Trump out.

Thomas had attended the gathering with her teenage daughter, who will be of voting age next year. She said she had plans to take her to an upcoming rally in Washington Square Park this Friday.

"It's time for [her] to see what's going on and get involved," the mother said.

A previously light rain had started to fall more heavily now, and the gathering had dispersed. In the night, the park was empty.

Pictured at top: two people at Carroll Park on Wednesday evening. Photo by John V. Santore